May 29 2008
Not a Case of Kids Being Kids
The story of Alex Barton, the five-year-old boy with (presumed) Asperger’s Syndrome who was humiliated by his teacher and classmates when she had the students vote on whether he should remain in class, has circulated all across the blogosphere for days now. I blogged about it myself. A family member approached me today about the situation and made a statement that, “the kids were just being kids…kids are like that.” He sounded like it was no big deal and did not hold the teacher accountable at all, at least not to me, perhaps because I refused to continue the discussion after the kids crack.
I’m not in favor of lynching Ms. Portillo, the teacher; she’ll get whatever is coming to her. But I had to comment on the other children in the class. I don’t believe that kids are just naturally so mean spirited. Yes, when there is a mob, they can get mean and quite out of control, but I believe that kind of behavior is learned. Ms. Portillo’s behavior is one example of how adults can teach cruelty.
There were two children out of the sixteen who did not vote against Alex. They are further proof that it wasn’t just a case of kids being kids. Obviously those kids were taught better. They obviously knew how to be kind. Someone should pat their parents on the back, and definitely take those two out for ice cream cones.
[…] Autism Insights doesn’t think that children can be so “mean-spirited”—goes without saying […]
Sad, kids are only kids, and there actions reflect their parents. So to say that they are being normal really says how the parents thought to be that way or allowed them to be.
Chato B. Stewart
Mental Health Advocate - Cartoonist - and a few other things!
http://www.mentalhealthhumor.today.com
“Using Humor to Heal and Educate with badly drawn cartoons.”
Thanks for the comment, Chato! I didn’t mean to say that kids can’t be mean, just that I think the majority of them are not inherently so. I agree - I think that what they show the outside world is a reflection of what they are shown to be appropriate. Granted, there can be some rotten seeds out there - it’s got to be a balance of nature and nurture - but I can’t believe that a group of five year olds would have ever thought to have this sort of Lord of the Flies mentality without being told to do so. Maybe older kids, but this age? No way.